Referring to the current instance

Inside methods you get a special constant called self, which points to whatever instance of the struct is currently being used. This self value is particularly useful when you create initializers that have the same parameter names as your property.

For example, if you create a Person struct with a name property, then tried to write an initializer that accepted a name parameter, self helps you distinguish between the property and the parameter – self.name refers to the property, whereas name refers to the parameter.

Here’s that in code:

struct Person {
    var name: String

    init(name: String) {
        print("\(name) was born!")
        self.name = name
    }
}

SPONSORED Fernando's book will guide you in fixing bugs in three real, open-source, downloadable apps from the App Store. Learn applied programming fundamentals by refactoring real code from published apps. Hacking with Swift readers get a $10 discount!

Read the book

Sponsor Hacking with Swift and reach the world's largest Swift community!